When mining companies screen the attractiveness of potential mine sites (greenfield projects), the focus is typically on factors within the fields of geology, mining design, metallurgy, infrastructure, logistics, environment, and politics. Each category has ‘no-go factors’, the occurrence of which makes the company avoid activities in an area. However, social factors are not often part of the equation when calculating attractiveness scores at an early stage. We claim that social factors should be considered by identifying social thresholds and, furthermore, by including social no-go factors in the screening.

This opinion piece draws on early findings from a larger research project on the sustainability of the mineral and metal industry. As part of the project, we have participated in discussions with companies, consultants, and researchers about the existing evaluation criteria generally used on greenfield projects. Based on this exercise, a site evaluation tool for mining companies is presently being developed. Based on our knowledge and experience with Social Impact Assessment and mining, we have proposed that social parameters, including no-go factors, are incorporated in the screening tool. This paper presents our arguments for the proposition.

当采矿公司筛选潜在矿场（新建项目）的吸引力时，通常将重点放在地质，采矿设计，冶金，基础设施，物流，环境和政治等领域的因素上。每个类别都有“不执行因素”，该因素的发生使公司避免在某个地区进行活动。但是，在早期计算吸引力分数时，社会因素通常不是方程式的一部分。我们主张应通过确定社会阈值来考虑社会因素，此外，还应在筛查中纳入社会不通过因素。

该意见书借鉴了有关矿产和金属行业可持续性的大型研究项目的早期发现。作为项目的一部分，我们参与了与公司，顾问和研究人员的讨论，讨论了新建项目中通常使用的现有评估标准。基于此练习，目前正在开发针对采矿公司的站点评估工具。根据我们在社会影响评估和采矿方面的知识和经验，我们建议将包括禁忌因素在内的社会参数纳入筛选工具中。本文提出了我们对该命题的论点。